Reach Through Dark to Find The Light

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Anniversary Of An Opening Mind

Today, March 3, marks the anniversary of my departure from the confines of a former existence to take the risk and set out to pursue the open world of opportunity and dream of a creative life. Geographically it meant traversing across the country from a given home in the MidWest to a chosen destination of opportunity and experience. Symbolically it meant casting aside the limitations of my previous outlook on life, wrought from a youth of limits and conservative impression and succumbing to the conviction of bold aspiration toward a creative life and progressive self improvement.

It had taken much coaxing and self assurance to complete my plan of preparation and finally go through with leaving all I knew to pursue something more. Jobless, anxious and unsure I left the still dead landscape of the MidWest in a car packed with all my belongings and headed out to pursue what I knew to be the only direction forward in my personal and creative evolution. Over the previous six months I realized that there was nothing more for me to pursue within the road that I was on. I could see the rest of my life laid out before me, safe and predictable, a sepia toned future. I knew and feared that if I continued upon the path in which I currently headed, that I would wither away and snuff out the potential that was only just beginning to grow inside me. I instead wanted to dig deeper to open and explore, letting out the light that flickered in the dark shadow of potential, and I set out to discover how.

It was one of the biggest choices that I had ever made, yet it seemed so right and natural.

That subsequent three day trek resulted in a lush and dense set of memories and experiences filled with hopes and possibility that I will never forget to my last day. Traversing the geography of America's countryside from the MidWest to my new destination of hope and opportunity in Los Angeles the geography of the journey was a microcosm of all hopes and beliefs of possibility of an uninhibited and open-minded future.

The countryside evolved and amplified in impressive presence the more Westward I travelled. Paralleling the excitement and realization of the magnitude of undiscovered opportunity, my sight and senses were bombarded with the form and beauty of endless landscape and horizons of which I had never seen in the homogeneity of my origin. Still etched within my mind’s eye I see visions of rolling horizons, empty and endless fields populated only by eerie dystopian wind mills, alien landscapes of red, purple and yellow rock that would have fit just nicely within a science fiction movie, desert surfaces populated with plants and creatures seemingly born of a mind amidst an LSD trip, and the mountainous ascent of the Rockies before I headed down their western side fixed upon my final destination.

Filled with all the excitement, hope and plans for a limitless future, the experience is one that immediately changed me, and validated the strength of those apprehensive aspirations that had gotten me this far.

Although at the time I would villainize my place of origin in an effort to quell my anxiety and justify my decision to leave it behind, I am proud my past and carry close those principles and tenets with me through every effort and step I take. And although a city such as Los Angeles has as many superficial characters and deceptive detractors as it does creative opportunities and evolutionary advocates, it is the metaphor of what it represents that truly captures the essence of this story. The geographical journey is a symbol, and the destination a milestone of personal growth and creative development. It could have been somewhere else, but the meaning behind the transition is what has proved most important in the greater perspective of my evolving view. The boldness to step away from accepted normality and the subsequent validation of all I have experienced since, is the essence upon which I build as I move forward on my path to creative identity and personal exploration.

It's been many years since I first took that first step upon the journey which opened my eyes to continuing new revelation of future possibility. But I still return to those first days in my new home when I catch the smell of exotic flowers that blossom after the first spring rain of March.

As Socionic enters into a new chapter of our evolution I look to the experience and knowledge that was wrought from that journey and embrace the unknown as we step into future’s fog, all the while maintaining an open, creative mind of endless possibility. The world is truly lush with infinite perspective, especially through the exploration of art, and nothing other than the lack of willingness to open your eyes can keep it from revealing itself.